ExecutiveMeetingMinutes

Executivemeetingminutes

IEEE Daytona Section

Executive Committee Meeting
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM October 18, 2007
Conference Room LB134 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, Florida

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by the Section Chairman Charles Husbands. Attending the meeting were: Charles Husbands, Roger Grubic, Tracy Wichmann, Ron Gedney, Dr. Thomas Yang, Dr. Jianhaua Liu, and Dr. Hugh Ward.

Treasurer’s Report: Tracy Wichman the Section Treasurer presented the Treasurer’s Financial Report through the end of September 2007. Tracy indicated that the Section is solvent and that the funds and expenditures are on-target. A discussion occurred on the Section’s funding to the ERAU Student Branch for the design and development of the robotic entry for SouteastCon 2008. A motion was made to cap the expenditures for this activity at $1500. The Executive Committee voted approval of this level of funding for this project.

Small Radio Telescope Project: Dr. Ward who is the principal investigator on the proposed SRT Project indicated that because of funding concerns in the Volusia County School System his employment with the Seabreeze High School will probably not be extended beyond his projected retirement date of December 2008. He indicated that he would like to remain as the principal investigator on the Project but would like to propose that the hardware procured for the project is assigned to the IEEE Daytona Section rather than Seabreeze High School. The Executive Committee agreeded with Dr. Ward’s decision and requested Ron Gedney our Life Member Chairman to inform the IEEE Life Member Foundation of our desired change in venue for the SRT, in the LM Foundation proposal.

Slate of Section Officers for 2008: A proposal was made at the last Section Meeting to ask the existing officers to extend their term of office through 2008. A letter was sent to each of the current officers to determine if they wanted to stay in their current post through 2008. Each of the officers indicated that they would be happy to continue in their current position. The exception was Roger Grubic who asked that another member be selected to take his position as Membership Chairman. The officers at the Executive Committee Meeting voted to approve the existing officers as candidates for IEEE Daytona Section officers for 2008. This slate will be presented at the October Section Meeting. Additional nominations will be accepted by letter between the October and November Meetings. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the November Meeting and the slate will be voted on at that meeting.

Life Member Trip: It was indicated that on additional Life Member Meeting is necessary before the end of 2007. Two options were presented by the LM Chair. One would be a LM/Student Roundtable sometime before the end of the year. The other choice would be a LM trip to meet with Dr. Riggs of the Physics Department at Stetson in Deland. Stetson currently has a SRT of the type we are seeking funds for from the LM Foundation. It would be nice to get an opportunity to speak with Dr. Riggs and discuss some of the applications and problems that they might have encountered in assembling and calibrating their SRT. Charlie Husbands said that he would contact Dr. Riggs and attempt to set up a visit before the end of the year. Perhaps in November. Ron Gedney will coordinate notifying the Life Members of the trip.

Membership Discussion: Roger Grubic our Membership Chairman has been closely monitoring the membership picture in the Section. The problems with membership are rather straightforward; there is little Electrical Engineering Industry in the Daytona area to draw from. One way to help this problem is to increase the current IEEE members in the area who are inactive in Section activities. One way is through developing affinity groups that might closer meet their technical needs than the general programs presented by the Section. This approach might include personal calls to inactive meetings, or notifying them personally by email. A second approach is to periodically have a well planned technical lecture at ERAU in the early evening, to try to draw students from the University and working engineers that can’t stay in the city for an evening meeting, or may have problems driving after dark. It appears to the chairman that it is easier to try to keep a current member active than have them drop off the rolls and recruit their replacement.

Meeting Dates: We reviewed the proposed Section Meeting dates for first half of next year. The currently planned events and dates are:

Computer Society Chapter Membership: Dr. Wilson has been working on organizing a Computer Society Chapter in Daytona. This Chapter will be an affiliate to the Daytona IEEE Section. Dr. Wilson has signed up ten of the twelve required charter members and feels that he should have the process well in hand by the beginning of the year.

Student Chapter Status: Dr. Liu reported on the current status of the Student Chapter at ERAU. They are organized and have started to plan for the Robotic Challenge in Huntsville, AL this spring. Dr. Liu indicated that many of the parts purchased last year can be reused this year so the funding level set by the Section should not be a problem. There was some concern about communications between the Student Branch and the Section. Their website has not been updated since March 2006, and I don’t believe the Section has a list of the current student officers. A suggestion was made to help them with a small stipend to maintain their website, but no action was taken on this action.

            Charles Husbands
            Chairman, Daytona IEEE Section
            chusbands@ieee.org
            386.760. 7163